Italy comes into Chicago hoping to get the city's huge Italian-American community behind it, but there are other points to prove, too. FloRugby checked in with Ian McKinley and Luca Morisi, who will be part of the Azzurri arriving in Chicago. Both have had their struggles. McKinley retired after a rugby clear went into his eyeball (yes, it is as gruesome as it sounds). But after doing some coaching in Italy, he got the fire again, and, thanks to some new goggles approved by World Rugby, he's on the pitch again.

The goggles, said McKinley, do a good job of protecting his eyes and are kept on in part by his scrumcap. He has had the goggles ripped off only twice - the first time he wore them, and a couple of weeks ago, which, he said, was a bit of a freak accident.